British businesses are optimistic about recruitment plans, report shows

Businesses in Britain are feeling optimistic about their recruitment plans, with some still looking to boost their headcount, despite political and economic uncertainty over Brexit and the general election, according to a report from ManpowerGroup.

The report surveyed 2,109 UK employers and asked them whether they planned to take on additional staff or reduce their employee numbers over the next quarter. The report found that businesses have a positive outlook of 5 per cent when it comes to hiring new staff.

Hope

Commenting on the general election result, the authors of the report stated that while the result may appear to be negative, there is still hope for businesses that are worried about the effect of a hard Brexit when it comes to their recruitment plans.

The findings also showed that despite the retail and construction industries being the biggest victims of a skills shortage, others sectors are performing well, with manufacturing found to be the surprising stand-out sector, with a positive outlook of +7 per cent.

Firm

Commenting on the report, ManpowerGroup Solutions Managing Director James Hick said: “Employers have faced a triple whammy of uncertainty over the last few months – a snap election, the triggering of Article 50 and weak economic data for the first half of 2017.”

He added that hiring confidence may have been expected to have taken a significant hit, but employers have been standing firm, however, they undoubtedly feared the result of a hard Brexit on the jobs market.

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